Gurunath Meiyappan arrested by Mumbai Police after questioning

Mumbai: Mumbai Police arrested Gurunath Meiyappan over allegations of involvement in IPL betting case on late Friday night after three hours of questioning. Meiyappan will be produced before a metropolitan court within 24 hours.

Mumbai Police had earlier said that he was being evasive during questioning. Meiyappan is BCCI chief N Srinivasan's son-in-law.

The 35-year-old was summoned by Mumbai Police for questioning after actor Vindoo Dara Singh implicated him in betting. Gurunath flew to Mumbai by a chartered aircraft from Madurai a little after missing the 5 pm deadline set by the police for questioning.

Gurunath reached Mumbai late in the evening accompanied by noted Chennai lawyer PS Raman. He was taken from the Mumbai airport to the Crime Branch headquarters and subjected to interrogation before being arrested.

Vindoo, arrested for his alleged links to bookies, had earlier admitted to having placed bets on Meiyappan's behalf. The crime branch, according to sources, had call data records of conversations between Vindoo and Meiyappan and they are learnt to have confronted the two with the transcripts.

Earlier in the day, India Cements, which owns Chennai Super Kings and is run by Srinivasan, sought to distance itself from Meiyappan, saying he is neither the owner nor the CEO or the Team Principal of CSK. "Mr Gurunath is only one of the members (Honorary) of the Management Team of Chennai Super Kings. India Cements follows zero tolerance policy and if anyone is proved guilty, strict action will be taken immediately. India Cements assures full co-operation with BCCI and the Law Enforcement authorities," says the statement. However, the Twitter handle of Meiyappan states that he is the "Team Principal, Chennai Super Kings," the statement read.

However, woes for Srinivasan appeared to be mounting with demands for his resignation getting louder. NCP headed by Sharad Pawar, a former BCCI President, demanded Srinivasan quit immediately "if he has any sense of morality and public accountability".